The Lakers have stood firm on trading shooter Austin Reaves, but one NBA insider has revealed the only type of player the team would trade him for.
With the Pistons enduring their worst season in history, The Athletic’s James L. Edwards III and Jovan Buha discussed a possible Lakers trade with the struggling Detroit.
In the hypothetical deal, the Pistons receive: Rui Hachimura, Austin Reaves, Max Christie and a 2029 first-round pick, while the Lakers receive: Bojan Bogdanovic and Alec Burks.
Buha revealed an example of a player that would tempt the Lakers to trade Reaves.
“The Lakers would quickly reject this deal,” Buha said. “They have no interest in trading Reaves. The exception would be in a deal for a clear-cut third All-Star, with a name like Lauri Markannen being the only player of that ilk potentially available on the trade market (and an unrealistic option for the Lakers, to be clear). They aren’t considering trading Reaves for Dejounte Murray, for example, and I think most would say Murray is better than Bogdanović. LA’s threshold for giving up their 2029 first-round pick is lower, and I think they’d certainly consider it in this type of deal. But to give up their two best assets — Reaves and that first — I think they’d want a better headliner and more collective defense.”
Markkanen enjoyed his first All-Star selection in 2023 with the Jazz after averaging 25.6 points per game and hasn’t missed a beat since returning from injury this season, averaging 24 points per night while having a profound impact on both ends of the floor.
Though Reaves has arguably been the Lakers’ third best player behind LeBron James and Anthony Davis in 2023-24 and is averaging 15.1 points per game on 48.6 percent shooting from the field.
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